Chapter 23 - Draco

“Brother!” Felix’s voice is urgent as he rushes into the surveillance room. “What is it?”

Pointing at the screen with my mouth agape, I’m struggling to find the words. The dragon who’d taken Lily from her bed was able to cloak itself with invisibility, masking the direction it headed in.

“Lily…” I gulp. “They’ve taken Lily.”

“Who? What? Where?” The questions fly out pathetically as Felix frowns at the screen. Realization washes over him, and he turns his head toward the heavens, muttering something unintelligible under his breath.

When he turns back to me, he clicks his tongue. “You took her back home?”

I point at the screen. “The more pressing issue is that she’s been abducted, Felix.”

My brother turns back to the screen. “Any idea who it was?”

I shake my head. “I couldn’t see their face. But I have my suspicions.”

“Blaze Legion?” he heaves. “Why would they…?”

“You heard what the meeting was all about,” I remind him, closing the screen and sending it back to its two-dimensional format with a swipe of my hand. My jaw tightens as my hands curl into fists at my sides. “Cadmus is watching our every move.”

“We don’t know that for sure, Brother,” Felix warns me as he places a hand on my shoulder to stop me from leaving the room. “Until we do, we can’t just burst onto Samui Island.”

“So what do you suggest we do, huh?” I roar, smacking his hand away. I grab fistfuls of his sweater, my angered outburst knowing no limit as I shove him. “They have Lily!”

“Relax, Draco,” Felix says sternly. “Let us first make sure it was Blaze Legion who took her. Any sudden movements might warn them that we know. And if they have her…”

His voice trails off, avoiding the words that speak of the unknown. About what might happen if her life is in danger.

“You’re right,” I finally breathe, releasing my brother from my wilful grip. Taking a deep breath, I calm my nerves and feel my anger subside. I can’t act impulsively.

I’d done that already by taking Lily back home. And see where it’s gotten her!

If she was still in Aurora Island, she would have been safe. Even if I thought I was protecting her, it turns out that I’d done more harm than good. The guilt is my demon to wrestle with internally, while it takes my brother’s clear mind to come up with a plan.

“I’m gonna fly into Redmond and check if the dragon has left any scent trail behind,” he offers as he checks the address on the bottom of the screen.

“Good idea,” I relent. “Make sure no one sees you leaving.”

Felix turns to me with a frown. “Did anyone see you leaving when you took Lily back?”

I shake my head. “No. I don’t think so.”

Felix throws a suspicious glance around the room. Aidan hadn’t come back inside after rushing out to call Felix.

“Perhaps we should keep this to ourselves,” I suggest. “Until we find out what’s going on.”

“I’ll speak to you when I get there,” Felix nods as he turns to leave. He pauses at the door, throwing over his shoulder, “I can’t imagine what you’re going through. But just try to remain calm.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding, finally allowing my inner turmoil to wrap its haunting tendrils around my being. The horror of not knowing where Lily is has me pacing the room until the walls feel like they’re closing around me.

When I step out of the surveillance room, Aidan waits timidly behind the door.

“You can go back to your duties,” I instruct him with a nod. “Be sure to keep an eye on the perimeter.”

When Aidan nods and disappears into the room, I relax my shoulders. At every turn, I’m forced to put on an iron mask. A brave face so that the capability of the Alpha of the Aurora Dragons isn’t questioned.

Sometimes, it doesn’t feel like it’s fair at all. To carry that weight on my shoulders. It’s a huge responsibility. And now that my fated mate has been abducted, I’m meant to be strong while my heart breaks inside my chest.

“Brother…” Felix calls mentally when I’m back in my quarters upstairs. I haven’t even bothered to go to Lily’s bedroom and inform Kairo of what just happened.

I don’t have the heart to do such a thing.

“Yes, Felix? What did you find?” I press a finger to my temple as I close my eyes, focusing on the mental link with all of my attention. Though no one can hear us, I don’t want to risk anyone being able to tap into our conversation.

“It’s definitely Blaze Legion,” he reveals with a huff. “That distinct stench is all around her bedroom.” Thank the gods, each of the dragon clans has a distinct scent. We’d been made aware of scents when the Council members gathered in our boardroom.

“Fuck!” I bellow, throwing a fist into the nearest wall. The impact only mildly scrapes my knuckles but leaves a large dent in the wall. “Come back to the island,” I order my brother. “We need to have a meeting.”

***

“Blaze Legion has taken Lily,” I announce to my family members gathered in Father’s study.

“What?!” Kairo is the first to exclaim, jumping off her chair and throwing a horrified look at me.

We’re unsure if we’re being watched, so we couldn’t meet in the boardroom. Still, in the confines of Father’s study, I press a finger to my lips as a gesture for her to keep quiet.

“Please, Kai…” I beg her. “We have a reason to believe that we’re being watched.”

“What if this place is bugged?” Stryker worries.

Lifting my hand midair dismissively, I reassure him, “Aragon has already scanned this room for any bugs. But it still begs the question… How did Blaze Legion know where to find Lily?”

“Perhaps they have spies in the area,” Aragon suggests. “After all, Zark would have known where the human originated from.”

I nod slowly, trying to process the situation. I have to get Lily back to safety, but I need to know why she was abducted in the first place. We haven’t heard from Cadmus yet.

And if I call him now, he’ll know that the human is important to me.

He can’t know. He’s already made his decision clear that he opposes the human mating process. And he must believe that I have rejected the idea, too.

That’s why I’d take Lily back to the human world.

Perhaps he’s afraid that the human knows too much.

Or, maybe he wants to understand what made Lily so special that she’d been picked as my child-bearer.

There are so many possibilities, but none of them matters. What matters the most is that I need to get Lily out of Samui Island.

“Is there any way you could speak to Zark?” Mother asks my father.

“No, Phoenix,” Father shakes his head disappointedly. “We’ve been told that he’s off the Council for good. It’s as if Blaze Legion has distanced themselves from any association with the other clans across the seas.”

“So he’s an enemy, then,” I scoff. It’s not the first time Blaze Legion has gone against the rulings of the Council. Three millennia ago, they’d waged war on the three other clans. Aurora Dragons, Flame Serpents, and Fire Force all stood as allies against them.

Still, many lives were lost in battle. Dragon lives—immortal but vulnerable to a dragon’s fire. That’s the only way any one of us can be killed.

It’s almost as if the gods reduced our extinction to one, horrific event—in-fighting.

“If Cadmus knows we want Lily back, he might retaliate,” Father warns me. “We’ll have to find another way.”

“There is no other way, Father,” I declare boldly as I rise to my feet. Curling my fists on my sides, I continue, “I need to bring Lily back to the island. She’s safest here.”

“I will stand by you, Brother,” Felix concedes.

“Me too,” Aragon adds.

“Me three!” It’s Kairo who fiercely announces this.

I glance at the twins, who nod their heads eagerly. Then, turn back to my parents. “I guess I have an extraction team big enough to bring her back.”

Father turns to Mother and sighs as she takes his hand. “Fine. But how do you plan on getting through their protective dome?” he asks with a raised brow.

Aragon chuckles, drawing everyone’s attention to him.

“I have a solution for that,” he smirks, chuffed with himself.

“Yeah?” I quip a brow at him, genuinely interested. “What’s your solution?”

“Remember when I came back? Well, no one knew I’d come through the dome…”

A long moment of silence passes as I digest what he’s just revealed. In the chaos of everything that was going on with Lily, I hadn’t noticed.

“You’re saying no one detected you?” I frown.

He winks at me. “Not even you, Alpha Draco.”

“How?” All the siblings ask in unison.

Aragon reaches into his jacket pocket and produces a clear liquid vial. He sets it down on the coffee table, then leans back and says, “Perhaps I met a witch in the human world.”